Help...my system should perform better

[Guest MNorm757]

I was suggested on another thread that I start a new one...so here goes.I've followed all of the directions with nHancer and things look much better with FS9. One problem though...My framerates have diminished to a level that seems too low for my new system. I just upgraded to what I would consider a fairly powerful system, yet I can't acheive better then 15 FPS while at cruise and with AI set to minimum. My specs are down below. Any help would be awesome. I was getting mid 20's with my 4 year old P4. BTW I can get 20-22 fps but this is only if I run in windowed mode with the screen size reduced to 3/4 of fullscreen. I have a 22' widescreen...and I just upgraded my video driver to Ver 162.22.Thanks,MarkDell XPS 410 / Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB / 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz / 128MB nVidia GeForce 8300 GS / 22 inch E228WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel / 32 bit Vista Home Premium / 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache

[Guest TomOOO]

Have you set your AA and AF too high so that your GPU is now limitingyour FPS.1) Turn of AA and AF : what FPS do you get.2) now turn on AA and AF and increase slowly in steps until FPS startsto reduce : you have now balanced load on GPU and CPUThe memory on the GPU is quite small at 128Mbyte, AA and AF both takeup memory, especially if you have a high resolution. Try a smallerresolution to reduce the memory on GPU. When you run out of memoryon GPU it has to use your main RAM : this slows things down a lot.Tom

[Guest baksteen33]

Not only small... Get the best 8600 or cheapest 8800 and you'll be in FS Nirvana. ;-) Best would be if you could try, you have a fairly high resolution after all. ;-) 256MB are OK for FS9. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

[altstiff 71]

On my system I can run full max in an aircraft like PMDG 747 at Aerosoft Budapest and get 20 FPS sitting at the gate. 100% AI traffic (UT with EVAI and AIA replacements) 1600X1200X32 16XAF 8XAA.I couldn't do this with my 256MB 7800GT.I think your video card is your bottle neck. Mine certainly was.

[Guest MNorm757]

I'd hate to hear that its my graphics card holding things up...I just spent $1500 on this system and it would be a shame to have to spend another $250+ just to get it to work as well as my old (4 years old!!) one.-Mark

[altstiff 71]

I hated to think so too. But the 8300 is a budget model and 128MB is not going to cut it these days.When I put this system together I kept my 7800GT in it and was very disappointed with the results. Yes things were running faster but not night and day like I expected.Then I put the 8800GTS in it and WOW is all I can say. I really noticed a difference in some other games I play like SH4 and GTR2, they really shine with the new GFX card. FS9 does have it's limits being so old now.Never in my years of gaming have I noticed such a leap forward when it comes to computer systems, not to mention gfx cards. 7800 vs 8800 was like night and day. I never seen that going from GF2 <> GF3 <> GF4 <> 6800 <> 7800. The 8800 blew me away.You know what they say, in for a penny in for a pound.....